Estimate your admissions decision from UCSD

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
81

<p>When it says 33-39 courses, does this include senior year? If so...</p>

<p>4 years of Foreign Language
4 years of Science, but only 3 years are counted, because I took Biology Honors in 8th grade.
5 years of Math
3 years of Social Science but 4 courses of it. (AP Macro, AP Gov, USH, World)
4 years of English
1 year of Fine Arts (senior year)</p>

<p>And, I get the full leadership (Editor-in-Chief) and volunteer hours (150 hours) points. But I can't believe GPA's weighted more than the SAT.</p>

82

<p>Konakai27 - The rubric lists even commercial test prep courses. You get 75 points if you did this in one year, more if you participated in programs more than one year. I would assume that your CSUN gives you the 75 points. Was it clearly listed in the application? If not, reserve this as the possible basis of an appeal, just in case.</p>

<p>As for the GPA - if someone took only four courses per semester from the a-g list in soph and junior year, yet earned A on all, they would earn 64 grade points, with the max of 8 points added if eight of them were honors/AP, gives a GPA of 72/16 or 4.5. If you took more than four a-g classes in any semester, then yes you can't get all the way up to a 4.5 UC GPA with the cap on 8 uplift points. </p>

<p>yummymango - the UC system has a long history of disdaining or discounting the SATs. They have several times discussed dropping SATs entirely from their admissions programs, and have again made changes this year in how they evaluate such tests. GPA is a much more credible predictor, according to the UC system, than are the tests.</p>

83

<p>Is there a link to the rubric? I also took a condensed SAT class from Eureka Test Prep, does that count?</p>

84

<p>UCSD</a> Freshman Comprehensive Review Process (Dec 2004) That's the link. =] And I think that does count.</p>

85

<p>Thank you!
I think this is my last question...
Since about 90% of ELC students get accepted to UCSD, what type of student constitutes the other 10%? (Sorry if I appear to be worrying too much... SD is my top choice assuming Cal and LA are going to reject me.)</p>

86

<p>No problem, I was worrying too. Lol. I also applied this year to UCSD. Well, from what I can collect, the 10% who don't get in with ELC are probably those students who maintained high GPAs and SAT scores, but lack some of the other points like income, leadership roles, educational programs, etc, as you see on the Comprehensive Rubric. </p>

<p>The cut-off is being determined, so we don't know that yet. But it's supposed to be estimated around 7700, which means that you must meet that cut-off to be accepted. :)</p>

<p>If you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask.</p>

87

<p>Being from out of state I am finding it very difficult to get an accurate idea of my D's points. Could someone look at her sats and try to give me an approx. #. Thanks.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.96/4.30
Ranking: School does not rank except for top 2. I am either #2 or #3 out of 402
SAT I: 2100 (CR 670 W 740 M 690) Got very sick night before which stunk!
SAT II: Bio 790 Chem 770 Math II 720
AP: Total of 11
Soph:Physics B(4)/U.S. History(4)
Junior: Calc ab(5)/Bio(5)/Lang and Comp(4)/World History(5)
Senior: Chem/Env. Science/Calc bc/Lit and Comp/French
All other classes honors, hardest schedule permitted.
Took College Algebra course at local college btw. 10th and 11th grade to jump ahead in math and got A.</p>

<p>EC:
IDI (Inform Defend Improve) Biology Club
President- grade 12 (9th 10th 11th 12th grade)
Science League (10th 11th 12th grade)
Math League (12th grade)
Mini-MORT (FIRST LEGO Robotics Team) Team Member then Mentor (9th 10th grade)Debate Team (9th 10th 11th 12th grade)
2007 Championships 2nd Place Negative Team
2007 Overall Season 2nd Place Negative Team
Gay-Straight Alliance (11th 12th grade)
Treasurer- grade 12</p>

<p>National Honor Society (11th 12th grade)
Mount Olive World Language Honor Society - French (10th 11th 12th grade)
Tri-M Music Honor Society For Violin and Double Bass (11th 12th grade)
Girl Scouts--Silver Award/Working on Gold Award
Mount Olive Press (9th 10th 11th grade)
Mount Olive Swim Team (9th 10th 11th 12th grade)
Mt. Olive Varsity Award 05-06,
06-07, 07-08 seasons
Flanders Valley Swim Team (9th 10th 11th 12th grade)</p>

<p>150+ volunteer hours</p>

<p>Awards:
Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award 2008
New Jersey Governor’s School on the Environment 2008
AP Scholar with Distinction Award 2008
SUMO Invitational Orchestra 2008 </p>

<p>She has:
4 yrs Language
4 yrs History
4 yrs English
5 yrs Math (one college math class)
5 yrs Science ( two AP science this year)</p>

88

<p>svmom:</p>

<p>with good essays, she should be in. But, then you have to decide whether the OOS price is worth it.</p>

89

<p>svmmom and bluebayou - </p>

<p>good essays don't matter. In fact, the admissions reader is explicitly warned to ignore the essay's quality or story. It is only read to glean preference items. For example, if the essay mentions that it is a single parent family, or that some life trauma occured, or that the applicant won some really important state-wide contest, those are turned into points in the admissions formula. UCSD will NOT care about the essay otherwise. It could be gibberish, full of errors, but if it mentions key facts that warrant points, that is the only effect it has.</p>

90

<p>SVMMom -
I will try to help, but we will need more to really determine a good estimate of her points.</p>

<p>Some comments - </p>

<p>Treasurer of the senior class is a minor role, but she needs two to score any points and I dont see any other VP/Pres of the clubs in which she participated. </p>

<p>However, if she were able to complete her GS Gold Award that would be worth 300 points extra. If it can get done almost immediately, inform UCSD when it happens. If not, it is the basis for an appeal if you are within 300 points of acceptance and the Gold Award is earned. </p>

<p>The volunteer hours earn her 150 points. She would have had to reach 200 hours in order to warrant the full 300 points. </p>

<p>Does your daughter have the arts classes that are part of the a-g requirements? Many OOS applicants do not and that is a show stopper for most. </p>

<p>Here are the really critical items to add enough points for her to be accepted. I can't tell from what you posted but I can let you know how to figure it out.</p>

<p>UC schools have a list of required courses - the a-g categories. The UC GPA is calculated ONLY on those. Your high school GPA doesn't figure into the formula at all. The UC GPA is calculated by taking the soph and junior year courses that are in the a-g categories, plus any college or summer courses of the same type that are adjacent to those two school years. It discards freshman year and senior grades. The letter grades are stripped of their + or -, a B- and a B+ are identical. Take the classes I just defined, count the total semester units, add up the semester grade equivalents (A=4, etc). Take the semester grade points you just added up and add eight more because your daughter's heavy AP load gives her the full credit. Now divide the new point total by the semester units. That is the UC GPA which goes into the formula.</p>

<p>Also, take a look at all the a-g courses your daughter took from Freshman year onwards and include all scheduled senior year a-g courses. Include summer school and college courses that are a-g as well. If that number is above 32, your daughter gets points in the admissions formula, at least 250 but if she did 40 or more a-g courses, then 500 points. </p>

<p>Now, see if there are points she earns for life trauma, for low income, for working 20+ hours a week supporting the family while in school, or for attending SAT prep courses or summer college enrichment programs. Those have to be factored in. </p>

<p>Even if we guess that her UC GPA is 4.3 and assume she has more than 32 a-g semester units over her high school career, and give her the volunteer points it is probably just shy of what is needed for admissions for OOS. However, the Gold Award or having 40+ a-g or some of the last items I asked about could make the difference.</p>

91

<p>Wow Rider, The UC system is like a whole new language. Thanks for the detailed reply. </p>

<p>She is President of the Bio club, Treasurer of the Gay/Straight Alliance, and Team leader/committee member for Relay for life. Don't know if that is enough to count.</p>

<p>Gold award is not close enough yet, so forget that.</p>

<p>She actually has over 240 volunteer hours, I just double checked. </p>

<p>"Does your daughter have the arts classes that are part of the a-g requirements? Many OOS applicants do not and that is a show stopper for most."</p>

<p>This is the comment that terrifies me the most! She does not have ANY art classes! Not required in our system. She has 4 years of orchestra, does that count?</p>

92

<p>yes, Orchestra/band will count for the VAPA requirement.</p>

93

<p>SVMMom</p>

<p>Good news then, as long as these facts are clear on the UC application your daughter filled out.</p>

<p>If the President title in teh one club and the Class Treasurer for the school are both clear, she gets 150 points for "two or more minor roles of leadership". </p>

<p>If the volunteer hours on the application add up to 200 or more, she gets an extra 150 points for that.</p>

<p>I would suspect that these 300 points you discovered are enough to earn her an accept even as an OOS. </p>

<p>It all critically hinges on the UC GPA that will be calculated. </p>

<p>If she took more than 32 a-g classes, which I suspect she did from her rigorous workload, that provides even more buffer points.</p>

<p>If these important facts are not clear from the application and the result is that she is not offered a spot, UCSD is pretty fair in accepting appeals if the disputed elements would provide enough additional points to put her over the top - in a phone call they would share with you the points they assigned her and the cutoff she needed. If you raise the issues that are not well supported in the application, e.g. if the volunteer hours in the app don't add to 200 or if the title in the club and the school treasurer title don't show up, they will help you file an appeal based on those 'missed facts' even if it was you that didn't record them properly due to unfamiliarity with their admissions formula. </p>

<p>I have to say that UCSD is by far the most transparent school I have ever seen as far as documenting exactly how they reach their admissions decisions and in working hard to enforce consistency in how the points are assigned through a clear and detailed rubric to their admissions application readers. </p>

<p>Best wishes to your daughter.</p>

94

<p>Wait, so when they say more than 32 a-g courses, does that include senior year classes? Also, what if I took high school classes in 8th grade (they're on the app). Do they count as part of the 32 a-g courses as well? </p>

<p>Including senior year courses, I have 42 a-g courses. With 8th grade, I have 44. If both my parents went to universities, does this mean I don't get any "first generation college" points?</p>

95

<p>I think you mean 300 points for volunteer hours, rider730. =)</p>

96

<p>And yes to both questions, yummymango. :)</p>

97

<p>^If I have 7,814 pts, is it low?
SAT: 3024/3200 points
GPA: 3840 pts.
Leadership: Editor-in-Chief and other roles (300 pts)
40+ a-g courses (44 with 8th grade): 300 pts
Volunteer: 150 hours = 150 pts</p>

98

<p>It's 500 points for 40 a-g. So add an extra 200 points, which gets you 8014 which is considerably good enough to get in.</p>

99

<p>Hey guys can u help me with this one :)</p>

<p>I was looking at the UCSD point chart and they award 500 points for Life altering event (foster care, death of immediate family member, personal involvement in a life trauma).</p>

<p>In my 3rd optional essay section, I talked about my grandfather's death during my 10th grade fall semester and this led to my awful performance during that semester. So am I eligible for the 500 points ?</p>

<p>PS: my grandpa lived with us before he died.</p>

100

<p>Yes, that would get you 500 points, I believe. What's your point total?</p>